I think most fathers want to see their sons play a sport. When I was a kid, it was baseball. It’s a good thing I loved the game (I still do, I even collect cards!). Practicing baseball was never a chore.

I felt that Aaron would benefit from baseball too. But, unlike the days of my childhood when it was easy to find enough kids to play with at the ballpark on any given day, today it’s impossible to even find six! So I’ve settled on teaching him fundamentals, like catching and throwing.

And, as an added bonus,  it’s great exercise…for the parents, because you have to keep chasing the ball. Kids can’t throw straight.

It’s plain to see that soccer has replaced baseball as the neighborhood game. When I was a kid, we didn’t have soccer. Instead, growing up in the Midwest we played a lot of hockey too. That was the sport my dad wanted me to practice, which I did, and which I never liked.

Check out my podcast episode about choosing sports for kids:

Soccer is a sport kids are learning to play from 3 years of age, which is amazing. Aaron loves soccer and, like many kids his age, he’s been playing in a league for about 4 years.  I love the look on his face when he scores a goal, and when after he makes a great play and looks at me with a proud look on his face I just want to run on the field and give him a hug and kiss. (I don’t, of course, cool factor and all that)

In my search to help him find his niche sport we tried golf and he actually enjoys it. The problem is he thinks I’m his caddy and has me working for him. There’s a point in which my shoulder just wants to quit.

We also do tennis, which he likes too. He has been playing twice a week but in the summer, with the temperatures in the 100’s, it gets harder to play…Not for him but for me. After we play, I need a good nap.

When it comes to football he likes throwing the ball around - and that’s about it.

I’m sure I’ll continue to encourage him to do more sports (he just started swimming lessons) and we’ll keep discovering what works and what doesn’t. I’ve come to realize that ultimately it’s not the sport I’d like him to practice but the one(s) that he chooses to do. As gung-ho as I once was on him learning only baseball I see now that it’d be an error to impose on him such expectations. Good attitude towards the sports you practice leads to great sportsmanship and I think that beats stealing all bases. Well, almost.

So for now we’ll be concentrating on baseball, soccer and tennis. And Roblox as his indoor game - I hear it’s really good for thumb dexterity.